Friday, January 18, 2013

Remember to follow me on Twitter @FantasyInsider3. Just letting you know that tomorrow I will not be doing writeups for any of the NHL games, as it will be tough to know how a team will start the season after being on lockout for that long.

Bo Van Pelt

Galatasaray

Schalke 04

Mallorca Win or Draw

Toronto Raptors @ Philadelphia 76ers

The Toronto Raptors will head to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers in this matchup. Philly enters 16-23, and is ice cold in their last l0 going 2-8. At home, they have a decent record at 10-9. Meanwhile, Toronto enters at 14-25, with a 4-16 road record. They are 5-5 in their last 10, but are on a 3 game losing streak, while Philly is only on a 1 game losing streak. Philadelphia scores only 92.8 points per game but allows 97.2. Meanwhile, Toronto scores 97 while allowing 99.

My Pick: Philadelphia 76ers (Suggested Pick)

Why: They are definitely the better team here and are at home. Currently, the line is at -3.5 in their favor, and I think they should get the win at home.

Stony Brook Seawolves

8 or Fewer

Chicago Bulls

Noah+Boozer @ Rondo+Garnett

To start, let's look at the stats for the Celtics pair. Garnett averages 14.6 points per game, however, he has been a little cold of late, only averaging 13.6 points per game in his last 5, and has only averaged 11 in his last 2 games. That's about 6 points per half. Meanwhile, Rondo averages 13 points per game this season, however he has also been below his average in recent games, averaging 11 points in his last 5 while scoring less than 9 in 3 of those games. Therefore, we can expect him to score about 5 points in the first half. Therefore, the Celtics pair should record about 11 or 12 points in the first half. Joakim Noah has averaged 12.4 points per game this season, and he has also been a little cold in recent games, averaging 10.4 in his last 5. However, in his last 3 games, he has averaged almost 12 points per game. Therefore, we can expect him to get about 5 or 6 points in the first half. Meanwhile, Carlos Boozer has been on an absolute tear recently. He has averaged 22 points per game in his last 5, which is about 6 points higher than his season average of 16.1. In his last game, he scored 36 points while shooting 67% from the field. Therefore, we can expect him to get about 9 points in the first half, which means the Bulls pair should get about 15 points.

My Pick: Noah+Boozer (Suggested Pick)

Why: Rondo and Garnett have been pretty cold of late, as has Noah. However, I think the difference maker in this will be Carlos Boozer. He has been playing great basketball recently, and I think he racks up a lot of points against the Celtics and him and Noah are able to outscore Garnett and Rondo in the first half.